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Customs retaining ALL parcels from China indefinitely

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Customs at international Hub are retaining all incoming parcels to the UK from China indefinitely from last week (approx 7/6/2011).
They are doing this to check each parcel for counterfeit goods and for items not declared as purchases.
If your goods are not counterfeit then they will release them and slap a hefty charge/fee for you to pay.
Great way to continue good relations with China.

Also to add to the psot above:
The tracking on EMS and Parcelforce will show "received and processed" but nothing after that.
Normally it changes to "forwarded for UK processing" within an hour of the time displayed for "received and processed" and is then immediately transferred to Parcelforce transportation for delivery on the next working day.
The Chinese tracking numbers can be submitted to both EMS and Parcelforce. If using Parcelforce to track then click on the underlined tracking number after you have tracked. It gives the full breakdown of the parcel's whereabouts.The phone number for International Hub is 08456 004781.

I daresay this my apply to EMS, it may apply to items moving to Parcelforce, it may apply to goods from a specific source, but I do not this applies to everything coming to the UK from China by air. They would have to double the staff, at least, and there will be thousands of disgruntled buyers screaming as never before. It will put the Christmas time backups to shame.

Well if it's true, as with most government departments they spend a few weeks blitzing certain areas, may just be the Royal Mail International hub is having it's turn where more packages are checked. Next month, it may be more container loads might be checked at the docks, etc

If you are a small regular importer, you tend to be known on the system anyway, and will have been cross referenced with HMRC, etc. if you have the right paper work, not doing anything dodgy, you have nothing to worry about and may not be delayed at all.

It's a lot of the new unknown shipments / accounts that will be priority, and nout but right anyway, too much dangerous, or counterfeit rubbish coming in.

If your goods are not counterfeit then they will release them and slap a hefty charge/fee for you to pay.

Click to expand...

That is called Duty and VAT my friend :clap:

I'm not sure what this thread is meant to do, but it is factually incorrect, and has no evidence to back it up.

I had two large consignments delivered by DHL Wednesday, usual turnaround time, usual duties paid.

I had a smaller package arrive via EMS on Friday, not inspected.

I am guessing you are new to importing from outside the EU, you ordered some stuff from China, your counterfeits got seized, and the unbranded stuff you were charged tax and vat on, and you experienced a bit of a delay :welldone:

Still receiving parcels daily from mainland and hong kong, absolutely no problems at all. One of my packages had been opened and resealed by Chinese customs but that's only due to the type and no doubt the images that show up on the Xray machine.

Asked about any issues today with one of my guys and he said there is nothing new happening at the moment, just the standard checks.

For now... The balance of trade is so ridiculous the west is literally year on year giving them most of their money and not even a negligible fraction is coming back the other way. Think about it in simple terms if you keep giving a poor guy your money year on year eventually he isn't going to be poor in the long run and will be the one deciding if he gives you money or not.

I try and source from China as little as possible, although it is a small part of my business. People always say one more won't make a difference and well it's going that way anyway. Well I say to you that it's the same with all things if you don't try and buck the trend then of course it will continue.

I am not disagreeing that China is a fabulous place for sourcing products, we just can't expect to have the same buying power for a long period of time and fairly soon we will be the (obvious) weaker party in negotiations if the level of trading deficit with China continues. There is also a huge level (to my knowledge) of unregulated pollution coming from China and India due to their manufacturing levels and lack of governmental power/will to regulate pollution.

Interesting this point has been raised, as we have been receiving more phone calls than ever this past week or so, from (what sound like) first time importers, saying their goods from China have been held by UK customs at the International Centre and they don't know what to do. Whilst we are limited to what help we can offer them, as it is arriving on a postal/EMS/Parcelforce service - safe to say I have spoken to quite a few people who seemed a little....nervous about the situation.

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